Kingston College (KC) turned in a virtuoso display in whipping St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) 3-0 to lift the new ISSA FLOW All-Island Super Cup on Saturday at Sabina Park and pocketed $1m.
It was KC’s first hold on the Super Cup and it couldn’t have been at a better time to end their season on a high after losing the Walker Cup final and being knocked out at the Manning Cup semi-final stage.
The top eight teams contested the Super Cup across both Walker and Ben Francis Cups. KC, who started as favourites duly obliged. They knocked off Ruseas’s High 4-1, Jamaica College 2-1 and now they put away STETHS 3-0 and proved that they are indeed a high quality team.
KC now joins JC, St George’s College and Wolmer’s Boys as winners of the “Champions League” of schoolboy football that had its genesis in 2014.
Star of the show for the Famed Purples was Rashawn Mackison who grabbed a hat-trick scoring in the 7th, 44th and 82nd minutes and sent the many KC fans into delirium as they celebrated with loud drums, horns and anything that took the decibel level to a crescendo.
Mackison, who also scored a three timer against Ruseas’s, won the Super Cup Golden Boot award with 6 goals and collected a cool $50,000 courtesy of Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica, ltd.
Mackison said despite the hurtful semi-final loss in the Manning Cup, KC had to lift their game and that they did. “It was unfortunate that we didn’t win that game on Wednesday but we knew that we had a FLOW Cup final, so we had to come out here, refocus and do our best,” said Mackinson, who is also the top scorer in the Manning Cup with 19 goals.
“This mean a lot to me. Before I took the pitch I told myself I am not going to leave this pitch without scoring a goal today and I got three so I am very grateful for it,” said Mackison, who plays for Harbour View FC in the Red Stripe National Premier League, Jamaica’s top flight football league.
It was a dominant display by KC and they continued the dominance of the corporate area teams over the rural area teams and truly showed where the power of schoolboy football lies.
It was a fitting send off for five of the KC outstanding players that will be leaving school in captain Javain Brown, his defensive partner Davian Shakes, the outstanding right back Trey Bennett and left back Antoneil Mullings along with midfield general Fabian Grant.
Winning coach Ludlow Bernard paid tribute to his team after they lift themselves like a phoenix rising from the ashes. “I am very privileged to have worked with a group of boys for the past three years that really embodied the richness of the motto “The Brave may fall But Never Yield,” said Bernard.
It was exemplified with young Mullings who was down for a while and there were attempts to change him but he said ’no coach I am not coming off this is my last game for the season. My last game for KC, I am not coming off’. That embodies the KC spirit. Everybody gave of the best. Everybody determined not to go home empty handed this season,” Bernard pointed out.
For STETHS, it was another disappointment but truth be told they were outclassed by a much better and talented team. Demar James, Chris-Andrew Dixon, Alex Thompson, Clifton Woodbine all tried desperately to stay in the game and coach Omar Wedderburn was left a dejected man.
“As you could see I don’t think the defenders carried out the instructions. Working in training coming into the match I was expecting a different result but this is more heartache. Right now I feel like a car that have a head on crash into a wall,” said Wedderburn.
“I think I need a vacation to reflect on the season and see where I went wrong. Not the players,” he emphasized.
